NEWPORT, R.I. >> UConn football coach Bob Diaco has garnered a reputation for boundless enthusiasm and straight-shooting bluntness in his short time here in Connecticut.

He displayed plenty of both during Tuesday’s American Athletic Conference football media day. He was never more to the point about the prospects in the upcoming season than when asked about the state of an offensive line which lost four seniors off a unit that has struggled mightily in the last couple of seasons.

“There are not a whole lot of dudes there that are going to be able to play competitive, winning football for 12 games this season so they are getting better,” Diaco said. “I would say that is one position where I can’t wait to see in their pads and see the growth that has been made over the last eight months physically and mentally and also see the interaction and how the newcomers fit into that role.”

The line figures to get a boost from the return of senior guard Gus Cruz.

Advertisement

Cruz started the final four games of the 2012 season and first five contests last year at right guard before he was shut down due to a cardiac issue which left his football career very much in limbo.

Diaco said that Cruz has been cleared and he is expected to be on the field when UConn holds its first preseason practice on Saturday.

“My understanding , almost every single player is going to be a full go on day one,” Diaco said. “We’ll take anybody 6-3 plus, 300 pounds who can run well and bend and twist, absolutely.”

Cruz, always considered to be popular with his teammates, only improved his place on the team and in the locker room with the way he dealt with his medical scare.

“Gus is probably one of the funniest guys I know,” UConn senior receiver Geremy Davis said. “In spite of having that issue, you can still see that faith that he believes in. He was still joking around, laughing and showing everything he can in the weight room and in the training room. Thank God he gets to play his senior year. You never know who is going to play and to get that opportunity to play again, I am happy for him and I hope he takes advantage of it and becomes that leader that all of us know he can be.

“Gus is very vocal and the words that he uses and the offensive line, he would help them grow. I remember when we were redshirting as freshmen and we were having that slump at the end of the season he was the one who spoke up and his words really touched everybody and that was when we won five in a row.

Cruz enters preseason camp as the co-No. 1 guy at right guard on UConn’s depth chart.

LOWLY RANKING A NON-ISSUE

Diaco believes that if he attempted to use the fact that Tulsa was the only one of the 11 teams picked to finish below the Huskies in the preseason American Athletic Conference poll as a motivational tool that it would give the Huskies an initial burst of energy but would not be helpful in the long run.

“It has no bearing, it will not be brought up,” Diaco said. “I am not going to say that we are not going to read it, I am not going to say that they are not going to read it, I can’t say they are not going to talk about it in the locker room but it can’t be an energy for us. It doesn’t have any lasting effect to where our program is at right now, we have be very guarded and careful with what we use in our path.”

Senior cornerback Byron Jones had a similar take on the ranking as UConn was tied with Tulane for ninth in the 11-team league.

“Whether we were picked no. 1 or No. 11, we are going to attack every game the same way,” Jones said.

Taking it one step further, factoring in players who saw action as true freshmen and 10 of the 15 remaining players from Paul Pasqualoni’s final recruiting class made the two-deep chart.

The player who has a chance to make as big of an impact as any could be redshirt freshman running back Josh Marriner.

“We are definitely going to play with multiple backs so Max and Josh are going to be stalwarts back there,” Diaco said. “Whether one is a starter one week or another week and we just blend so they are both happy, they are both going to play in the games a bunch. They both do different things well and those different jobs are going to come up at different times as situatuons change over the course of four quarters so they are both going to be used.

“Josh is pound for pound the strongest player on our team. I don’t want to give him a nickname because he is so much more than that, this guy is fast, he is strong, he is powerful. he is a tackle breaker with leg drive, he can push through tacklers and he can also make you miss, he’s got some gas to otherwise extend runs that are needed. He is such a fanstatic young guy, I can’t say enough good things about him, selfless, a great teammate, works hard, one of the hardest workers on the team. He has been so fun to coach.”